“Don’t you think he would’ve done that by now?”
She blinked. Damien’s words landed like a bucket of cold water dumped over her head. “But?—”
“You’ve been here over a week. He hasn’t announced that anything has changed.”
“Leo’s father just died! I highly doubt a betrothal was his main concern yesterday!”
“As a king going into a potential war, he is expected to be married for the additional magic. Everything is going to move quickly.”
“Damien is right,” Nicolas said carefully. “The lords are planning to talk to Alexander about that this morning.”
Evelyn wanted to punch them both for the pity in their eyes. “No. He doesn’t want to marry Hannah.”
“He hasn’t toldheryet, Evelyn,” Damien warned.
“He will!”
“Listen to me,” Damien whispered, closing the gap between them. “I won’t lie to you, and I can’t promise everything will be okay. So I need you to forget where you were last night. Get dressed and go about your morning like nothing happened.”
Compassion filled Damien’s eyes, but Evelyn walked away from him with anger, despair, and fear roiling in her gut.
Of course Leo will end things with Hannah. There’s barely anything between them in the first place.
She returned to her room without acknowledging the guards following her.
Leo wants to be with me. He said so yesterday. He kissed me!
Evelyn prepared a bath.
Except… he didn’t kiss me. I kissed him.
She could still smell Leo on her dress.
He held me all night and didn’t want to let me go this morning. He trusts me.
Evelyn’s curls were a mess from Leo’s tears and sleeping on a couch.
But I’m the one who took him to the library. He never asked for my help.
She slid into the hot water.
He held my hand only until we were back at the palace. He went to the patio with Hannah, not me. Did he even glance at me during dinner?
Evelyn remembered teenage Hannah pulling petals off flowers one by one.He loves me, he loves me not.If the last petal was going to be aHe loves me, Evelyn would burn the rest of the flower just to make Hannah mad.
I don’t think I like this game anymore.
“Good morning, Your Highness,” Rory said when Evelyn opened her door.
“Am I the last one up?” she asked.
“I believe Lord Robert is still sleeping,” Simon said. “His snores are…impressive.”
Rory elbowed his partner in the ribs.
Sure enough, the dining room was busy when Evelyn arrived. King Tristan, Hannah, Lord Nicolas, Lord Stuart, and Lord Grégory were chatting while they ate. Leo and Damien were missing, and Queen Camille remained in her room. Evelyn claimed the empty seat beside Nicolas.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” King Tristan said. “You just missed General Savatier. We received word from Lochmatten that Councilor Moeller should arrive tomorrow.”
